Faith & floral journal page
Posted: February 16, 2021 Filed under: A Pocket Full, Art Journal, Arteza, Footnotes, illustrious, Penny Black, springtime sigh, tranquil buds, watercolour real brush pens | Tags: Art Journal, Arteza, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 6 Comments
I know it is not spring yet, in fact it is still very winter where I am; we’ve had some of our coldest days and nights just in the last few days. Maybe because it’s so cold now is a nice time to muse about spring.
Sometimes I have a plan for a journal page, other times I work it out as I go along. To begin this one I painted absorbant ground on the journal double page. It is a base preparation a bit like gesso which makes the paper act a little more like watercolour paper. I should probably just switch to a journal with watercolour paper pages but I stubbornly want to keep adding to the this one.
Once the base dried I stamp the Penny Black ‘springtime sigh’ stamp in one corner then coloured with Arteza real brush pens. The colouring is not precise, the surface doesn’t react the same as watercolour paper but I found blending with very little water gave me the most control.
I stamped first with Gina K skeleton leaves amalgam ink which I have used for no-line watercolour in the past but it remained too distinct on the journal page so I switched to antique linen which worked a bit better. I restamped and coloured springtime sigh several times then decided I wanted fewer little flowers to colour! I switched to the new Penny Black ‘illustrious’ stamp which co-ordinated well. I don’t know for sure but I wonder if both stamps were drawn by the same artist, the scale and style is similar.
When stamping the ‘illustrious’ stamp I was able to ink most of the stamp with Arteza real brush pens which cut down on the colouring. I still used antique linen ink on the large open leaves then blended with a marker to shade the leaves. When I had almost framed the double page spread I switched to the PB ‘tranquil buds’ stamp to add some lavender.
Next came the tricky stage when I had to decide what was happening with the empty area of the journal page. Writing, stamping, hand lettering or empty space were all options. I decided a bit of ‘filler’ in the shape of a text stamp would be nice and instead of the large script one I often use I chose the smaller typed text stamp from the PB ‘footnotes’ set. I stamped it here, there and everywhere in old paper ink, often spritzing with water before stamping so it just stamped a blurry pattern. I also added splatter then chose a phrase from the new PB ‘inspirational sentiments’ set.
Is that cute notebook die-cut covering a failed stamping attempt? Yes it is but I’m quite happy with that because the notebook page looks sweet. I cut it with a die from the PB ‘a pocket full’ set. I love how this page turned out even though I had no idea at the beginning it would progress this way. That’s the beauty of a journal page.
Supplies
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Autumn wreaths
Posted: September 13, 2019 Filed under: A Pocket Full, all natural, golden delight, Penny Black | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks 10 Comments
Much as I hate to admit it, things are beginning to feel distinctly autumnal. I don’t have any autumn wreaths to hang at home but if I did I think I would like one a bit like this, soft colours and delicate leaves.
I worked in my stamp positioner to create this panel on hot pressed watercolour paper but I think you could easily do it with the stamp on an acrylic block, it might even be faster. I started by tracing a circle on my panel with a pencil. Using the circle as I guide I positioned the branch stamp from Penny Black’s new ‘All Natural’ set so the base stems were on the circle. I inked with rusty hinge, stamped, moved the stamp around the circle a little, stamped in bundled sage, moved it again, stamped in frayed burlap and then repeated until I was all the way around the circle. I used a small watercolour brush to blend inside the leaves adding extra ink when necessary. I love the combination of colours; frayed burlap is new to my collection and I like the way it gets along with the other two inks. Once the blended ink was dry I stamped just a section of the berry stamp around the centre of the wreath in gathered twigs distress ink then blended it to fill the berries.
I used the same sentiment for both cards, it’s from another new and cute PB set called ‘golden delight’. I stamped both times on a little tag from the PB ‘a pocket full’ die set. To finish off the card I wrapped some twine around the panel, added a bow and popped the tag on top.
For the second card I grabbed another stamp from all natural and used the same process but needed a leaf mask cut from post-it note a couple of times where the leaves would have stamped over previous ones. This little stamp has both leaves and berries as well as a curved stem which just happened to conveniently match the curve of my traced circle. I used the same technique of blending the leaves and berries after stamping with forest moss and aged mahogany distress inks.
Both cards requested the splatter treatment and the second card wanted a olive green mat as well.
Hope the days are warm and sunny where you are.
Supplies
Snow forest
Posted: January 4, 2019 Filed under: A Pocket Full, snow forest | Tags: Catherine Pooler inks, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 6 Comments
Snowy scenes and thank you cards will keep on popping up on the blog. This one made with the PB stamp, ‘snow forest’, was very simple to make. I put the stamp in the stamp positioner then inked part of it in Catherine Poolers ‘icing on the cake’ ink, stamped then randomly inked in ‘over coffee’, stamped and finally the same with ‘eucalyptus’ ink. With the whole image stamped I blended the larger distinct tree trunks with water to get the watercolour effect.
I ended up painting over some areas, not all, with water also which softened the contrasts but still left light and dark areas. I pressed the three inks onto my glass mat so I could pick up ink to paint the snowy forest floor.
To complete the card I matted in dark green cardstock and die cut a banner for the sentiment. I embossed the sentiment with weathered white powder which gives an antique, and I think, snowy effect.
Supplies
Stamps: snow forest, banner sentiments
Dies: a pocketfull
Inks: eucalyptus, icing on the cake, over coffee (Catherine Pooler), versamark
Paper: hot pressed watercolour, green cardstock
Also: MISTI, weathered white embossing powder, glass mat
Belle
Posted: May 21, 2018 Filed under: A Pocket Full, belle, Foiling, Zigs & zags | Tags: Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers, Minc, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, WOW embossing powders 4 Comments
The zigs & zags stencil has popped up again today as a background for this die cut and watercoloured flower. I applied deco transfer gel directly to my card base (neenah solar white 110lb) then ran it through my minc with white foil. The result is a subtle chevron background. I wanted my flower to match the white card base exactly so I used the same neenah solar white which meant I did not add much water at all when blending my zig pens after stamping. I used a mix of blue, pink and purple and a blue/green combo on the leaves and stem then just a damp brush to blend with water. I made sure the blending was dry before stamping the black centre several times then used the co-ordinating die to cut out the flower plus a white foam one to pop it up over the background.
The little black banner was die cut with one of the dies from the PB ‘pocket full’ die set. I have pulled out all my little label, banner and tag dies from different sets and grouped them together so I can quickly cut the right size for a sentiment. This sentiment from the handy ‘banner sentiments’ set is embossed in white powder.
Supplies
Stamps: belle, banner sentiments
Die: belle cut out, a pocket full
Stencil: zigs & zags
Paper: neenah solar white, neenah epic black
 
Markers: kuretake zig clean color real brush pens pink, blue, violet, cobalt blue, green, black
Also: transfer gel, white foil, foam, minc, white embossing powder
 
Farewell to summer: Beach
Posted: September 24, 2015 Filed under: A Pocket Full, Hand drawn, So Lucky | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 7 Comments
This hand-painted card depicts one of my favourite summer activities, sadly one that I rarely get to enjoy these days. Growing up we had a beach holiday every summer. I don’t live anywhere near the beach now but I did enjoy a couple of trips to the lake during July and August. One trip was to Sandbanks on Lake Ontario. The lake is so huge that it looks like an ocean beach but the water just doesn’t taste right! Apparently the wind does whip up waves most days but when we were there it was flat, flat, flat.
The card above is based on my memories of Australian beaches. We would walk over a little or large dune and reach the beach, usually a surf beach, and check out how good the waves were going to be that day. I painted with distress stains over some masking fluid ‘white caps’ and added some grass with a stamp from the ‘so lucky’ transparent set.
This is the last in my Farewell to summer mini series, it will be pretty much autumn and winter themed cards for a while now!
Supplies:
Stamps:  So Lucky, Special Wishes (PB)
Creative Dies: A pocketfull (PB)
Inks:Â chipped sapphire, salty ocean, tumbled glass, broken china, pine needles, scattered straw, mustard seed, vintage photo distress stains, peeled paint, crushed olive distress inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah avon brilliant white, green cardstock
Blog Hop with Scrapbook Adhesives
Posted: September 23, 2014 Filed under: A Pocket Full, Background Stamps | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 11 Comments
Yes, that is glitter you see on my blog! The PB design team is blog hopping with the Scrapbook Adhesives design team this week so I stepped a little outside my comfort zone and opened up the glitter. I had to go and find the glitter first; it used to live in my craft stash but it had migrated to my daughter’s nail polish stash where it definitely gets more attention.
I created my backgrounds first by taping some watercolour paper to a firm surface and blending distress stains onto the panels. The blue one was spritzed with pearl-ex powder spray to create a pretty sheen and the purple one was sprinkled with salt for some texture.
To create the glittery elements I used both 3D Foam Stars and 3D Foam Christmas Shapes. I peeled the shapes, which have adhesive on both sides, off the backing sheets and dipped one side in glitter then pressed the other side onto the watercolour panels. To create the sparkly “Noel”  I cut the word from white paper using  an adhesive sheet on top of the paper instead of underneath. I removed the top sheet and dipped the sticky side of  the word in glitter.
Both banners were cut using a banner die from “A pocket full”. As the die has one “V” end I die cut only half way then flipped the die around and cut the other end with the “V” also. To finish the tags I matted with PB mix & match papers then twisted some embroidery floss to thread through the punched hole at the top.
Both Penny Black and Scrapboook Adhesives are hosting giveaways on their blogs this week so visit everyday for inspiration and a chance to win.
Supplies:
Stamps:  Letter Background (PB)
Creative Dies: Exultations, A Pocket Full (PB)
Inks:Â Evergreen Bough, Pine Needles, Chipped Sapphire, Milled lavender, Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick distress stains, Peacock Feather distress ink (Ranger)
Scrapbook Adhesives: Adhesive Sheet, Thin dimensional adhesive squares, 3D Foam Stars, 3D Foam Christmas Shapes, EZ runner adhesive
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, #14 Rose Garden, #13 Periwinkle, #06 Spring Meadows paper (PB)
Also:Â Embroidery Floss
Merry! Already?
Posted: August 5, 2014 Filed under: A Pocket Full, Flourish Holly, Footnotes, Shades, Tannenbaum, Textures | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 5 Comments
I know. It’s only August but I imagine many of you have been creating Christmas cards since… well, Christmas! I have only just started and believe me I find it hard to stamp snow in summer. There is however a very good reason for this little bit of merry. Penny Black is releasing their new Christmas Collection next week so the team are getting you in the mood for Christmas stamping by pulling out a few favourites from last year.
This tree was definitely a favourite of mine last year. (it’s here, here and here). For this little trio of notebook pages I inked it with distress inks, stamped it on watercolour paper, spritzed the image to make the colour bleed and added a little music in the background. I did the same with the holly stamp but added canvas in the background. Â The third notebook page and the sentiment banner repeated the colours in the two picture panels to tie it all together.
The sentiment banner is my first attempt at inlaid diecuts. (There is one in yesterday’s card but this was my first go) I cut the word merry from light green and a dark green piece of cardstock. I placed a piece of tape behind the dark green negative piece then ran it through the diecut machine again with the banner die. Because the tape was in place it held together. I then pressed the light green “Merry” onto the tape and snipped the exposed tape from above the ‘M’ and the loop of the ‘y’.
How is your Christmas card pile going? Have you started? Have you finished! Counting this one I think I might have thirteen completed.
Supplies:
Stamps:Â Tannenbaum, Flourish Holly, Textures, Footnotes (PB)
Inks:Â Antique Linen, Forest Moss, Salty Ocean, Barn Door Distress Inks (Ranger)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Olive Grove mix & match papers, Neenah Natural White 110lb card stock
Creative Dies: A Pocket Full, Shades, Love & Joy
Sunflower Library Card
Posted: July 31, 2014 Filed under: A Pocket Full, Life's Journals, Remember This, Sunny Hello | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks 1 Comment
I remember when all the library books had cards tucked into a pocket inside the back cover. I don’t remember any of the library cards being particularly pretty though! I am enjoying using the library card stamp and the notebook page also from the set “Life’s Journals”
I created my library card with distress stains, first inking the stamp then spritzing and stamping it on watercolour paper. I used a waterbrush to blend the colours and add any extra colour including blue for the background. I stamped the library card image when the paper was almost dry. The olive notepad page behind was die cut in two steps. Because I wanted the notepad to be wide enough to almost fill the card base I ran the die through the Big Kick half-way then repositioned the die by lining up the little circles at the top and ran it through again. The library card and label are popped up over a piece of faux burlap ribbon.
I haven’t stamped anything inside the card yet but the “For the Record” stamp leaves me plenty of possibilities…
The Penny Black design team have been sharing projects featuring the new Pocket Treasures release all week so check out the blog if you haven’t done so already.
The details post is up on One Layer Simplicity highlighting some great one layer cards and the new challenge will go live tomorrow, August 1st.
Supplies:
Stamps:  Sunny Hello, Life’s Journals, Remember This (PB)ÂCreative Dies:  A Pocket Full  (PB)
Inks: Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Fired Brick, Walnut Stain Distress Stains, Broken China stain and ink (Ranger)
Paper: Neenah Natural White 110lb card stock, Olive Grove Mix & Match paper, Fabriano 100% cotton hotpressed watercolour paper
Also:Â May Arts Faux Burlap Wired Ribbon
To Treasure
Posted: July 16, 2014 Filed under: A Pocket Full, By the numbers, Dazzlers, Footnotes, Gelatos, Let's Chat, Life's Journals, Mixed Media, Remember This, Rose, Scrapbook Page, Textures | Tags: Faber Castell gelatos, Faber Castell Textural Accents, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Tsukineko Memento inks, Tsukineko Radiant Neon inks 13 Comments
The new Pocket Treasures release from  Penny Black inspired me to do something I haven’t done in years; I created a scrapbook page!  I designed my page around one of my daughter’s prom photos. As the dress was finished the day before prom I still had all the fabric scraps lying around so I incorporated some of them into the page along with watercolouring, die cuts, stenciling and stamping. I used three new background panels from the Pocket Treasures release, text and music from “Footnotes” as well as canvas from “Textures”. I also used several intricate circle designs from the transparent set “Dazzlers”. The cute little notebook pages are cut with a die from ” A Pocket Full” set.
The 12 x 12 panel is watercolour paper. I have a large block of hot-pressed paper so I did all the work on the page while it was still attached to the block then peeled it off at the end and trimmed it to size. Three of the roses are die cut from watercolour paper and coloured with gelatos. The two paler roses were painted onto the page through a die cut stencil with gesso; I then added colour with gelatos.
I used two dies from the “Leaves” set, one to die cut leaves out of tulle (the dress had four layers of tulle in the skirt), the other to create a stencil to paint through.
Supplies:
Stamps:  Dazzlers, Footnotes, Life’s Journals, Textures (PB)Â
Creative Dies:  A Pocket Full , Rose,  (PB)
Gelatos: Metallic Melon, Green Tea, Guava (Faber Castell)
Watercolour Pencils:Â Medium Flesh 131, Pompeian Red, Pine Greren 267Â (Faber Castell)
Inks:Â Memento London Fog, Cottage Ivy & Olive Grove Memento markers (Imagine Crafts Tsukineko), Worn Lipstick distress stains and ink (Ranger)
Textural Accents:Â Gesso, Gel Medium (Faber Castell)
Paper: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, PB Mix & Match Coral Reef Paper
Also:Â Tulle, Satin, Staple
and now for something completely different…
The stamps and dies in the Pocket Treasures release are not just for scrapbooking. I went in a very different direction when using some of the new products on a card. I can hardly bear to keep my soft romantic rosy scrapbook page and my neon grunge style card in the same post they are so contrasting. To create my card I used a brayer to apply blue and pink ink onto white cardstock then cut out a piece with the “By the Numbers” die. I used the same Radiant Neon inks to apply pale blue and pink to a white card base with the brayer. I featured yet another background stamp to add arrows along with canvas in grey ink. I then wiped the grey ink pad along the edges of card base for a distressed look. I stamped arrows from “Let’s Chat” in black and the sentiment from “Remember This” also in black. Finally I cut a speech balloon from “A Pocket Full” set out of brayered pink cardstock and stamped words in black ink.
Supplies:
Stamps:  Textures , Let’s Chat, Remember This (PB)Â
Creative Dies:  A Pocket Full , By the Numbers (PB)
Inks: Memento London Fog ink, Radiant Neon Electric Blue, Electric Pink, Versafine Onyx Black(Imagine Crafts Tsukineko)
Paper:Â Neenah Solar White 110lb card stock.
Heather Telford 